I may be a bit blinded by nostalgia when writing this review, as this game was my favorite when I was a kid, but I think it's one of the best Castlevania games and still my favorite.

For a GBA game, its graphics and length are very good, with a nice map (although not very varied) and simple and functional controls. The most important part of the game is the soul mechanic and it is certainly something very fun to use, unfortunately the Luck stat doesn't work properly, so it's a bit tedious to farm for unnecessarily long periods of time for a desired soul.
The story it's pretty simple but it works. You might love Soma or hate him, either way, it doesn't interrupt your experience with the game so don't worry about that.